Little Witches
by Damsell
Summary: Jane and Alec are twin sister and brother that lived in hard times. This is the story of their pasts before they became two of the most important members of the Volturi clan.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, this is a new story that I'm **_**considering**_** working on. If there's interest I may continue. If not, I may take it down. So, please, if you'd like to read more of this story, leave comments.**

**As always, all comments — good or bad — are welcome**

**~.~.~.~.~.~**

She was running in the dark, her heart pounding so loud in her chest that it drown out the sound of her feet on the pavement. As she ran she reached out to squeeze her companion's hand and that was when she realized that it wasn't there.

Her sense of panic increased and she started turning around in all directions, but everything was dark and she couldn't see anything. The sense of panic within her was rising. Where was he? He had to be here somewhere? When had she lost him?

"ALEC!"

Waking up with a start from the nightmare she sat up in the dirty blankets that were now tangled around her limbs even as she felt the straw poking through the worn fabric of the mattress scratching at her. It had only been a dream, but her heart was still hammering in her chest as she looked around the small room.

Her brother wasn't there.

Swinging her thin legs over the side of the mattress she ignored the coldness of the stone floor as she reached for the threadbare shawl that had fallen from the foot of their bed to the floor.

Where was he? Was he all right?

Huddling into the shawl that was no more than a rag, she tried to warm herself, though she knew it was useless. She was always cold. It was why Alec still snuck into her bed at night despite the fact that her grandmother told them they were getting too old for such things. He would try his best to keep her warm and being next to each other offered them a sense of comfort that neither found anywhere else.

Sniffling a bit, she rubbed her nose on the back of her sleeve and stifled the cough that was threatening to rise up out of her lungs. It was like there was always a deep rattle down in the depths of her chest that never went away and cold mornings made them even worse. But, once she started coughing, it was like she couldn't stop and that wouldn't be good considering that she'd noticed droplets of blood in her phlegm recently.

There was no need for Alec to see that. It would just worry him more.

Leaving the small room that was barely big enough to hold the mattress she slept in, she peeked into the main room of the small hovel afraid to see her grandmother, but apparently the old woman was still in bed since there was no sign of a fire in the hearth. Sighing in relief and holding back another cough, she crossed the cold floor in her bare feet and went out back to collect some firewood.

It was even chillier outside than it was inside and she shivered in her excuse of a dress as she picked up a few logs from where they rest just outside the door. Curling her thin frame around the bundle of wood she held she made her way back indoors. It was going to be a horrible winter.

Looking around before she closed the door against the wind, she wondered again where Alec had gone. He usually let her know when he was leaving, even if it was only for a short time. Ignoring the sense of panic that had stayed with her from her dream, she squatted next to the hearth and tried to start up the fire again.

After a few tries, the moss she'd used as kindling finally caught a spark and she stoked the flames till there was a cheery fire burning in front of her. The warmth felt good against her skin so she stayed there a moment before she moved to look inside the small basket on the table to see if there was anything to eat.

She was surprised to find a small bit of bread inside and wondered how her grandmother had failed to hide that from them. Reaching in she snatched the bread out, all the while her eyes locked on her grandmother's door, as if she expected the old harpy to jump out at any moment and snatch it away. But, before the small piece of bread even reached her lips she remembered Alec. He would be hungry, too.

Looking at the bread in her grubby hand her stomach grumbled, as if begging her to eat, but she ignored her own hunger and looking to her grandmother's door, she tucked the piece of bread away in her pocket, saving it for Alec whenever he came home.


	2. Chapter 2

After tucking the piece of bread away in her pocket, Jane moved to a pail of water that sat in one corner and using a ladle that was inside, she drank a bit. The water level was low and looking to the front door she wondered if Alec had gone to fetch more from the village well, but she quickly decided that couldn't be the case. If he had gone to fetch more water, then the pail wouldn't be there at all.

Looking to her grandmother's door again she listened carefully for sounds coming from the other side. At any moment the old woman would be up, cane in hand, and would start ordering her around. If she wasn't quick enough in doing the hag's bidding she would feel the lash of the cane across her small fragile frame.

Sometimes she wondered if the old woman needed the cane at all. More often than not it was used as a tool to punish her and Alec rather than something to help the harpy get around. Even thinking of the beatings that she and her brother had received she shivered and huddled further into her shawl, as if that could somehow protect her from her memories.

The beatings had been part of her and Alec's lives from as far back as they could remember. Since they had come to live with their grandmother as toddlers she had insisted that she had to "beat the devil out of them" since they came from "evil stock." The strange thing was that she remembered her mother being a kind, gentle woman, whereas their grandmother brought them nothing but pain and misery. It was the old harpy that was evil in her mind, not her mother.

She was still looking at the door to her grandmother's bedroom when she heard a noise coming from outside. She had barely taken a step in that direction when Alec rushed in, looking flushed and out of breath as if he had been running, a sack of some sort in his hands.

Before she could ask him where he had been he hurried up to her and managed to breathless whisper, "Get your things. Your other dress, mother's box. Check to see if grandmother's hidden any money in the usual spots. Hurry!"

She responded to the sense of urgency in his voice and didn't bother to ask any questions as she scurried about, doing as he asked.

As she checked her grandmother's usual hiding spots, from the corner of her eye she saw Alec go into their grandmother's room. She expected to hear her grandmother start yelling and Alec's cries of pain as he got beaten since they were never ever allowed in there, but instead Alec came back out, stuffing some things into the sack he had been carrying.

Looking up he saw her staring in wonder and he said urgently again. "Hurry, Jane! There's no time."

She found a few coins under the box where the kindling was kept and stuffed them in her pockets before she rushed to her room and gathered her one other dress and the small wooden box that had been their mother's. Before she even had a chance to turn around and head back to the main room, Alec had grabbed her free hand and was dragging her with him as he rushed out of the hovel they had called home since the time they were three.

As they got outside Alec started to run and she could barely keep up. He was pulling her in the direction of the forest rather than towards the village and already breathless, she asked, "Alec, what's happening?"

He just shook his head and with his finger to his lips, he motioned for her to be quiet and just continued to run, practically dragging her behind him as she tried to keep pace.

She knew that she would not be able to keep up for long. Already she was wheezing for breath and her poor malnourished body didn't have the strength to keep up this pace much longer. But, even as the coughing threatened to start up again and the forest floor became denser with fallen leaves and twigs that were cutting at her bare feet, she did not complain. She trusted Alec with every fiber of her being and knew that he had a reason for this odd behavior, even if it did concern her and there were a million questions running through her mind. Was he in trouble? What had happened to their grandmother? Where were they going?

She knew that he wouldn't be able to answer her questions right then and there even if she were capable of gathering enough breath to ask them so she just continued to try to keep up.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't long before she lost her footing and fell forward. Since Alec had a vice grip on one hand and she was holding her mother's box with the other, she had no way of braking her fall and the last thing she saw was the rock on the ground crashing towards her before she blacked out.

Alec had been dragging her along for most of the way, so when she tripped, he barely noticed and turned just in time to see her head hit a rock on the ground. Crying out he knelt next to his sister and started to panic when he saw all the blood. He had no way of knowing that head wounds bled a lot and he was sure she had split her skull open.

Throwing himself on the ground next to his sister's fragile form he smoothed her pale blond locks away and whimpered a bit when he saw the blood that was pouring from a wound over her left eye. "Jane. Jane! You must wake up! Jane!" There was a sense of urgency and panic in his voice, but he never raised it above a whisper, afraid that they were being followed and that his crying out would draw attention to their location.

Panicking he looked around, sure that they would be set upon at any moment. Without a word he grabbed the box that was still gripped in her cold fingers and he tucked it inside of his shirt before he lifted her up, though he scarcely looked strong enough to do so. There was no help for it. She was his sister and he loved her; he couldn't leave her behind.

His arms were shaking with the effort, but he continued to make his way through the forest, much more carefully this time. He thought that perhaps things were better this way. Jane was weak and the cold wouldn't do her any good. At least this way she wouldn't overexert herself and he could keep her warm by holding her close.

He looked like such a brave little soul, tiny thing that he was, carrying his even smaller sister, his arms trembling with the effort. It was easy to see that he was frightened. He was frightened by whoever it was that he was running from. He was frightened of the blood that was covering his sister's face, and he was frightened because he didn't know what they were going to do.

That morning, he had woken up cuddled with Jane and had smiled at how peaceful she looked in her sleep. That was the only time his sister looked peaceful and it brought him a bit of joy that got him through the day.

Leaving her in bed he had gotten up and had gone to start the fire, knowing that his grandmother would be unhappy and unleash the fury of her cane if she woke up to a cold front room. But, before he could get the moss he used as tinder started, he had a sense that something wasn't quite right.

Walking slowly towards his grandmother's room he peeked through the gaps in the panels of wood and noticed that she was laying there, but she wasn't emitting her usual soft snores. Carefully opening the door he had whispered, "Grandmother?" But, there had been no answer. And, when he came closer and poked at her a bit, she didn't stir.

She was dead.

A plethora of emotions ran through him at that moment: surprise, confusion, elation, but these only lasted a moment before he was overwhelmed by a sense of dread. What would he and Jane do now?

He would let Jane rest and take care of things himself. Leaving the house quietly he walked to the main part of the village, lost in thought. He would have to tell the magistrate and then what would he and Jane do? He knew that they were considered too young to be on their own. Would one of the villagers take them in? He could negotiate and work for his and Jane's food and shelter. Jane herself was too weak to work.

When he reached the magistrates cottage which was larger than any in the village, he knocked. There was grumbling from the other side of the door and a woman's harsh voice called out, "Who in the hell is callin' this early in the morning?" The woman who answered the door was barely dressed, one of her breasts practically completely hanging out from her the shift she was wearing and Alec looked away.

The magistrate called this woman his second wife, having brought her home from a nearby town no less than a week after his first wife had died, but if village gossip was to be believed they weren't really married and more than once he had heard his grandmother saying that the woman was a whore who had spread her legs for money before the magistrate had been bewitched by her.

Noticing that Alec was keeping his eyes averted, the woman laughed. "Wot? Don't ye like wot ye see?" Alec kept his gaze on the ground and just quietly replied, "Sorry for disturbing you, m'lady, but is the magistrate available?" The woman snorted at his politeness and called out as she walked away from the door, "There's some boy at the door tae see ye!"

It wasn't long before the magistrate came to the door, tugging his shirt onto his flabby, huge frame, looking none to please as he said, "Alec? Old Medea's grandson? What you want boy?"

Alec's voice was soft and polite as he looked up at the man's chest, avoiding meeting his gaze. "It's my grandmother, sir. She's, well, she's dead, sir."

The magistrate frowned. "Is she now?" The man reached up to scratch under one of his armpits and Alec had to keep himself from wrinkling his nose at the foul odor that the man was giving off. "Well, wait here then. I'll get dressed and we'll go see what needs to be done." With that he closed the door, leaving Alec to sit on the dirt nearby.

Alec had been sitting there a while before he decided to peek in the window on the other side of the house. As he drew closer, he heard the magistrate and the woman who had answered the door talking.

"What am I supposed to do with the children? The boy's thin, but I suspect he can be made to work. From what I hear the girl is weak and won't be more than a burden on anyone. No one's going to want her."

The woman answered, "Oh, there's always use fer girls, even the sickly ones. We could take her tae town. I know some people that'll even give us a few coins fer the girl and then we'd not only be rid of her, but we'd make a profit."

He barely heard the magistrate agreeing to the idea as he started to run back to his house to get Jane. He would never let them take his sister from him!


End file.
